MPR’s Euan Kerr reported this morning on Tomas Saraceno’s new exhibition Lighter Than Air at the Walker Art Center. Saraceno likes to create floating worlds that challenge our notions of what can and cannot be. What didn’t make the radio story was an account of the natural world taking Saraceno by surprise. He had travelled to Bolivia to shoot a movie out on the salt flats, and it started raining.

We were super tired and I was falling asleep in a small tent that was like a swimming pool – it was all wet, very shallow – two or three centimeters of water. A friend of mine said “come come!” I said “what’s going on?” We ran outside and there was no moon – all the stars were reflected on the water and you couldn’t see the water anymore. It was super crazy – stepping on the three Marias and the cosmos! It was the best 3D massive cinema I’ve ever been in – in real scale. It was a super great experience.

By day the salt flats became an immense mirror to the clouds and blue sky, and Saraceno found himself walking around in the floating world he so often tries to create through his work.